EARN NEXUS FROM YOUR COMPUTER

The network currently provides three ways to mine Nexus or mint Nexus by validating blocks on the blockchain. There are two proof-of-work channels, and one proof-of-stake channel. Each algorithm in the proof-of-work channels is optimized to enable greater decentralization through diversity. The prime algorithm is optimized for use by your computer’s central processing unit (CPU), while the hashing algorithm runs optimally on the graphics processing unit (GPU). Minting on the proof-of-stake channel can be done with minimal resources by holding a minimum of 1,000 NXS.

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Prime Channel

Almost every machine with CPU can mine Nexus blocks on this channel. The most effective method of mining is to join a mining pool and receive a share of the rewards based on the contribution you make. To create your own mining facility, you need the CPU mining software and a NXS address. This address cannot be on an exchange. You create an address when you install your Nexus wallet.

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Hashing Channel

A GPU contains dedicated processing hardware housed on-board your graphics card. A GPU can perform certain tasks much more efficiently than a CPU, including the ability to mine Nexus on the hashing channel. Nexus supports both AMD and Nvidia GPU mining and works best on newer models. Officially, Nexus does not support GPU pool mining, but there are 3rd party miners with this capability.

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Staking Channel

Staking is a form of minting NXS. With this process you can receive NXS rewards from the network for continuously operating your node (wallet). It is recommended that you only stake with a minimum balance of 1000 NXS. It’s not impossible to stake with less, but NXS is built on trust and trust takes time to build. Losing trust resets the interest rate back to 0.5% per annum. Download the wallet here.

Mine Nexus on the Prime Channel

Download Prime Channel Miner

To mine Nexus on the Prime channel, it is highly recommended that you use a mining pool to improve results.

Configure Wallet for Solo Mining

For Prime channel mining, it is recommended that you use a mining pool. If, however, you prefer to solo mine Nexus, you will mine directly to your Nexus wallet. Before you can do so, you must add a small configuration change to the wallet itself.

First, close your Nexus wallet.

Navigate to %appdata%\Nexus (~/Library/Application Support/Nexus on macOS) and open the nexus.conf file. Depending on your wallet, you may or may not have this file. If not, please create a new text file and save it as nexus.conf

You will need to add the following lines to the nexus.conf file before restarting your wallet:

llpallowip=127.0.0.1:9325

mining=1

Configure Prime Channel Miner

This guide covers the basic steps to get the Prime miner up and running.

Step 1 – Extract the archive file to a folder.

Step 2 – Open the miner.conf file. Edit the following items:

"host": pool hostname or IP address, for solo this should be an address in your NXS wallet

"port": use “9549” for pool, “9325” for solo

"nxs_address": NXS address for pool payout, empty ("") for solo mode

It is also recommended to add this item to the .conf file, if not already present:

"experimental" : "true"

This option enables the miner to use an improved sieve algorithm which will enable your miner to find primes at a faster rate.

Step 3 – Run the nexus_cpuminer. On Windows builds, you should run the start.bat file, which will automatically restart the miner if it shuts down for some reason.

Step 4 – Tune the miner.

There are two additional items in the miner.conf that you can adjust to tune your miner:

"sieve_threads": number of CPU threads to use for sieving

"ptest_threads": number of CPU threads to use for primality testing

If you have a more powerful CPU with more cores, it can run faster (higher WPS – the Prime mining equivalent to hash rate) with higher settings for these values. As a rule of thumb, the number of threads used for the sieve should be around 75% of the threads used for testing. It will likely require trying different settings for these to determine what gives the best results.

You can leave most of the remaining items in the miner.conf file set to their default values.

Prime Channel Pools

To mine Nexus on the Prime channel, it is highly recommended that you use a mining pool to improve results.

Mine Nexus on the Hashing Channel

Download Hashing Channel Miner

Links to pool miners should be available on the pool website. Different pools may use different miners.

Configure Wallet for Solo Mining

If you plan to solo mine Nexus, you will mine directly to your Nexus wallet. Before you can do so, you must add a small configuration change to the wallet itself.

First, close your Nexus wallet.

Navigate to %appdata%\Nexus (~/Library/Application Support/Nexus on macOS) and open the nexus.conf file. Depending on your wallet, you may or may not have this file. If not, please create a new text file and save it as nexus.conf

You will need to add the following lines to the nexus.conf file before restarting your wallet:

llpallowip=127.0.0.1:9325

mining=1

Configure Hashing Channel Miner

This guide covers the basic steps to set up a Hash Channel miner. Each miner is different, though, so refer to that miner’s documentation (readme file, GitHub page, or similar) for detail.

Step 1 – Extract the archive file to a folder.

Step 2 – Open the the mining configuration file (miner.conf). For some miners, such as skminer, this is found in /resources/config. Edit the connection settings.

For solo mining:

"url": 127.0.0.1:9325 (mines to your Nexus wallet, which must be running)

"user": "x"

"password": "x"

For pool mining:

"url": pool hostname or IP address and port, provided by pool

"user": NXS address you are mining to (typically in your Nexus wallet, pool may or may not allow exchange address)

"password": only if pool requires, otherwise use "x"

Other settings can be adjusted or tuned per the miner documentation. Tuning a miner for GPU mining is as much an art as a science, and settings will vary based on your hardware setup. They can even vary from one graphics card to another, even if they are exactly the same brand and model.

Step 3 – Run the miner. Most miners include a .bat or similar file for this purpose.

Hashing Channel Pools

Nexus does not officially support pool mining on the Hashing channel. Hashing pools are developed and operated by third parties. Any questions or issues with a pool should be directed to the pool operators.

Mint Nexus by Staking

Activate Staking

After you have your wallet installed, fully synchronized and encrypted, you can begin staking by:

Choosing Unlock Wallet from the Settings menu.

Check the box that says “Unlock for Mint Only”, then enter your password.

When the question mark at the lower right of the wallet window changes to a clock icon, staking is active.

Staking remains active as long as your wallet is open and running.

After you begin staking, you will receive a Genesis transaction as your first staking reward. This establishes a Trust key in your wallet and stakes your wallet balance on that key. From that point, you will periodically receive additional Trust transactions as further staking rewards for as long as your Trust key remains active.

IMPORTANT – After you receive a Genesis transaction, backup your wallet.dat file immediately. You can select the Backup Wallet option from the File menu, or manually copy the file directly. If you do not do this, then your Nexus balance will be staked on the Trust key that you do not have backed up, and you risk loss if you were to suffer a hard drive failure or other similar problem. In the future, signature chains will make this precaution unnecessary.